Demand for 1,3-butadiene as an intermediate product of petrochemicals and value thereof are gradually increasing.
As methods of preparing 1,3-butadiene, there are naphtha cracking, direct butene dehydrogenation, oxidative butene dehydrogenation, etc.
Thereamong, oxidative butene dehydrogenation means a reaction in which 1,3-butadiene and water are generated through reaction of butene and oxygen in the presence of a metal oxide catalyst. Through this reaction, stable water is generated and thus this reaction is very advantageous from a thermodynamic point of view.
In addition, since the reaction is an exothermic reaction unlike direct butene dehydrogenation, 1,3-butadiene can be obtained in a high yield even at a low reaction temperature, compared to the direct dehydrogenation. Further, since the oxidative butene dehydrogenation does not require additional heat supply, it is very suitable as a commercially used process.
However, since the metal oxide catalyst should have catalytic activity and durability even under high temperature and pressure of oxidative dehydrogenation, loss of active material exhibiting catalytic activity should be minimized and high mechanical strength is required.
In general, so as to increase mechanical strength of metal oxide catalysts, a binder such as silica along with a metal oxide catalyst precursor is added during catalyst-molding. However, such a method has a limitation in increasing mechanical strength of metal oxide catalysts. In addition, metal oxide catalysts prepared through such a method reduce performance of catalysts or cause unnecessary side reaction depending upon characteristics of reactions.